


How many times can a broken thing break?

by donttouchtheneednoggle



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, more relationship tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28344054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donttouchtheneednoggle/pseuds/donttouchtheneednoggle
Summary: Percival loses people. Like a lot.But he's never alone.
Relationships: Lancelot & Percival (Merlin)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	How many times can a broken thing break?

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning: this chapter is set in the aftermath of a massacre, but there is very little detail.

He sat.

He was not sure how long he had sat there, slumped on the hard ground.

He was not sure how long he would sit there for.

He had done the screaming, the sobbing. Now, he was empty. There was nowhere left to go.

So he just sat.

.........

An indeterminable amount of time later, he dimly heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

Perhaps one day, if he made it that long, rage would stir him, but right now he just felt numb.

“Go ahead, finish me off,” he heard himself say in a ragged, wrecked version of his own voice.

“I have no intention of that.” The voice was low and serious.

The stranger came into view. He had curly hair and wore a travelling cloak.

“What happened here?”

He shrugged blankly. “What does it look like.”

“This is your village?”

He nodded mutely.

“I’m sorry.”

So was he. Twenty people, including his mother, father and little brother, slaughtered where they stood.

And where had he been?

On his day off, walking far away among the hills, singing to himself, lost in tranquillity as his family screamed their last.

He wasn’t sure who he hated more - Cenred or himself.

He was silent for a long time as the stranger looked at the horror all around him. “They can’t stay like this.”

His only response was to curl his limbs tighter around himself, recoiling from what he knew he had to do. But he was right – they couldn’t stay here.

“Did you want to-“

He shook his head. He’d already said his goodbyes, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to touch them.

The stranger seemed to consider him for a moment, then crouched down to put a hand on his arm and level his gaze at him.

He tried to keep his stare on the ground but there was something almost magnetic about the stranger’s dark eyes.

He looked at him directly for the first time, and saw that his olive complexion was ashen and he seemed to be trembling slightly. His voice, however, was perfectly, forcefully calm when he spoke:

“Don’t worry about it. Go get firewood.”

Any other time he would’ve been dumbfounded, but he only registered a dull flicker of surprise. “But-“

“I will see to it. Now go gather firewood.” The stranger’s voice was firm and left no room for argument, but gentle too.

Slowly, gratefully, he climbed to his feet.

He took one last look, remembering the days where the houses had not been wrecked and rang with the laughter of people who were not dead.

Then he turned walked away from the devastation into the silent forest.

.........

He did not know how long he spent in the forest, collecting branches in a daze, blocking out every painful memory as it came, but the sun was setting by the time he returned.

The stranger was standing by a pile of bundles wrapped in white sheets. His face was very deliberately blank.

He put a hand on his shoulder then left him alone.

.........

He collapsed by the flickering flames of the pyre as the dying sun stained the sky red.

There was nothing left to do, so he just sat.

.........

He woke in the dawn light underneath a cloak that was not his own. He cast around him and saw all was left of the pyre was a pile of smouldering ashes.

The stranger lay asleep a few metres away, curled tightly round himself. He looked cold.

He looked from the stranger to the cloak and back to the stranger again, and felt a pang of something through the numbness.

He inched carefully towards him, and tried to gently lay the cloak over him without waking him, but his eyes flickered open. He jumped back and froze.

“I- thought you might be cold,” he said awkwardly.

The stranger pulled himself groggily upright and held the cloak out to him.

“I thought the same about you,” he replied, staring pointedly at his bare arms.

“Oh- right… thanks.”

He sat beside him in awkward silence for a moment, clutching the cloak, bewilderment pushing through the dull haze of grief. 

“Why did you do that?” he blurted out, eyes drawn inexorably to the remains of the pyre. “I don’t get why anyone would ever want to-“

A quick, humourless smile twitched the stranger’s mouth.

“My village was attacked by raiders when I was a boy. I was the only survivor.” He turned and looked earnestly at him. “If there is anything I could do to help another through that pain I would.”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

The stranger suddenly gripped his arm. "It's not your fault," he said fiercely, sounding as though the words were torn from him of their own volition. “What happened here-“

He pulled away from him, the haze descending over him again. "You don't know that."

The stranger was watching him sadly. "No," he agreed, shifting to give him space. "I guess I don’t.”

There was silence again, but he found he could not quite lose himself again. Curiosity mingled with the wretched mixture of guilt and grief.

He frowned and considered the stranger carefully for the first time. His clothes were scruffy, his hair was a tangled mess, and his skin bore a few half healed cuts, but still…

There was something about him. The way he held himself, the serenity in his eyes-

“Are you a knight?”

That bitter smile was back. “Far from it.”

“It’s just you seem kind of.. I don’t know… honourable?”

The stranger snorted and shook his head. “I have seen true honour, and it is certainly not limited to knights. But not me. I’m-“ He broke off and shook his head.

He frowned again, then shifted closer to him, taking the cloak and wrapping it round both of them. “Well, you helped me.”

Another half smile appeared on the stranger’s face, genuine this time. “I am glad.”

They sat for a while longer, watching the sunrise.

The stranger wasn’t the first to break the silence, and that surprised him. Yesterday he hadn’t ever wanted to speak again.

“I don’t know what to do now,” he confessed. Tears burned his eyes, turning the pale sky into a fiery blur. “I’ve never been anywhere else.”

The stranger fidgeted beside him. “Well,” he began, “You could... you could always come with me? At least for now?”

His eyes widened. “Really?”

The stranger nodded, dropping his eyes. “I mean, only if you want to?”

He eyed him suspiciously. “What do you do?”

The stranger shrugged. “Travel. Help out where I can. Stay out of trouble.” A vaguely alarming glint replaced the serenity in his eyes. “Badly.”

He glanced at the sword that lay beside him on the grass. “Knight stuff?”

The stranger lifted a shoulder. “I guess.”

“I don’t know…” he said doubtfully. “I’ve never even picked up a sword.”

“I could teach you,” the stranger offered. His eyes flickered to his arms again. “I mean, you’ve got the build.”

Despite himself his mouth quirked up, but then his eyes shifted over the remnants of his old life: the the piles of smoking timber that marked out the houses, the well in the centre.

His heart wrenched at the thought of leaving his home, but it was already gone. He could not remain among the ghosts.

“Ok then… I’ll come with you.”

The stranger smiled happily. “I’ll be glad to have you, my friend.” He paused. “I really should have asked earlier. What’s your name?”

“Percival,” he said, holding out his hand and grinning, an actual proper grin. “And you?”

His friend smiled, taking his hand, “Lancelot,” he replied.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos appreciated <3
> 
> Come hang out on [tumblr](https://donttouchtheneednoggle.tumblr.com/)!


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